Operation Masher

Operation Masher was a US-ARVN-South Korean military operation of the Vietnam War which occurred between 24 January and 6 March 1966.

By the start of 1966, 2,344 Americans had died in Vietnam, and 184,300 troops were stationed there, with more on their way. That year, they were joined by contingents from their regional allies of South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand.

The central coastal province of Binh Dinh was home to over 500,000 people, and it was a guerrilla stronghold for decades. Augmented by North Vietnamese regulars, the provincial Viet Cong had a strength of 8,000 fighters. General William Westmoreland sent 20,000 US, South Korean, and ARVN troops storming across the province in pursuit of the enemy and their sources of supply. They first dropped leaflets and broadcast from loudspeakers to warn villagers the terrible fate which awaited anyone who fired on their helicopters, asked them to abandon their homes, and promised safe passage to any Viet Cong fighter who surrendered. They then called in airstrikes and artillery and destroyed the hamlets in the first large-scale search-and-destroy campaign of the war. The offensive lasted 42 days, and the army reported 2,389 enemy soldiers killed. Westmoreland was pleased, but commanders on the scene were concerned that most of the NVA regulars had still managed to escape back into the Central Highlands. Over 100,000 civilians were driven from their homes, and similar search and destroy bombing campaigns (17 offensives in 1966) created over 3 million internally-displaced people, a fifth of the South Vietnamese population.